Elijah Manangoi

World 1500m Champion Elijah Manangoi has shifetd his focus for the coming Diamond League meeting with an aim to claim the top prize.

The Rongai Athletics Club member, who led a 1-2 Kenyan finish in 1500m on the final day World Athletics Championships in London, currently heads the rankings in his chosen distance ahead of the final two races of the season in Zurich and Brussels.

The 24 year-old has been invited at the Weltklasse Zürich which is an annual, invitation-only, world-class track and field meeting that will be held at the Letzigrund in Zürich on August 24.

The meet in Zurich is being held in a new format where the best athletes of the season qualify to compete, regardless of their standings in the 12 preceding Diamond League meetings, and a $100,000 (Kshs 10,000,000)-dollar winning prize is awarded in each event.

Manangoi will also be eyeing $50,000 (5,000,000) in prize money if he can win the Diamond League in Brussels on September 1.

“I have already won two Diamond League races in Doha and Monaco with world-leading times, and a second-place finish in the Prefontaine classic meet in Eugene. This gives me enough motivation to win the Diamond League title for the first time,” said Manangoi, a 2015 world silver medallist.

When athletics.co.ke reached to his coach about the two events the coach Bernard Ouma said, “with the preparations we have had the whole year,Manangoi is up to the task and I believe he will deliver”.

Only five points separate him from his training mate and current world silver medallist, Timothy Cheruiyot, who is in second place with 25 points. World bronze medallist Filip Ingebrigtsen of Norway is in third, ten points further back.

Kenya’s new world 1,500m champion Elijah Manangoi can break the 19-year-old world record for the event, Asbel Kiprop said after losing his title to his younger compatriot on Sunday.

“I see Elijah as a fresh talent, a new guy, who will take the event to the next level,” Kiprop told reporters after failing in his attempt to win a fourth consecutive 1,500 gold medal at the World Championships. “He is new, young, strong and smart; he is the guy to run under 3:26.”

Moroccan Hicham El Guerrouj set the world record of 3:26.00 in Rome on July 14 1998.

Kiprop, 28, finished ninth on Sunday, more than three seconds behind Manangoi’s time of three minutes 33.61 seconds, and said he would now move up to the 5,000 metres.

“I used a wrong tactic and used a lot of energy in closing the gap. When the race settled, the pace had become too hot for me.

“I will move to the 5,000m to fill the void being left by Mo Farah and to try and bring the title back home,” he said.

The last Kenyan to win the world 5,000 title was Benjamin Limo in 2005 in Helsinki.

Manangoi, who finished ahead of fellow Kenyan Timothy Cheruiyot, thanked Kiprop for mentoring him but was coy about his world-record ambitions.

“I thank everybody who made this possible,” Manangoi, 24, said. “It is like a dream. I particularly thank Asbel for mentoring me. As for the world record, let’s not talk about it.”

Kenya’s Elijah Manangoi produced an astonishing kick to win the 1500m gold medal at the World Championships in London.

Manangoi, the fastest man in the world this year, sped past his young compatriot on the home straight of the last men’s individual track event to take the title in 3:33.61 and was followed by his training mate Timothy Cheruiyot with 3:33.99 with third place going to Norwagian Filip Ingebrigtsen of 3:34.53.

Three time World Champion Asbel Kiprop, who had briefly threatened to make it a Kenyan clean sweep, found the pace too hot on the last lap, fading into ninth place in 3:37.24, a fairly tame attempt to emulate the four straight metric mile world golds of Moroccan Hicham El Guerrouj.

Three time World 1500m champion Asbel Kiprop and World silver medalist Elijah Manangoi will today be out to redeem the Kenyan image after the country lost obvious gold at the ongoing London Championships.

While Kiprop will be targeting a fourth successive title, the man to watch is Managoi who is currently in the best shape this season running twice world best at the Doha and Monaco Diamond League crossing the line with 3:31.90 and 3:28.80 respectively

The Rongai Athletics Club member hopes to upgrade his silver medal from the 2015 championships in Beijing to gold this time round.

The defending champion Kiprop has had an up and down season will likely try and prove the world wrong as he has perfomed below the expectation both in Kenya and at the Diamond meetings, but it that is behind him now as he seems to have regained his form as he looked comfortable in his first round and semi-final races.

The 28-year-old will also be seeking to equal the record of four successive titles set by Morocco’s world record holder Hicham El Guerrouj.

Timothy Cheruiyot who finished seventh placed at the 2015 world championships in Beijing has also been in great shape winning the Rabat Meeting and also setting his personal best at Monaco with 3:29.10.

Three time world champion Asbel Kiprop led a powerful trio of Kenyans into Sunday’s 1500m final at the World Athletics Championships, giving himself the chance of shooting for a fourth successive gold medal in the metric mile event.

The 28-year-old is seeking to equal the record of four successive titles set by Morocco’s world record holder Hicham El Guerrouj, kept out of trouble on the wide outside before sprinting home a comfortable second in his heat on Friday.

Elijah Manangoi, the fastest man in the world this year, who ran a controlled race to win the opening semi-final in 3:40.10 with Kiprop coming second in 3:40.14 while third place went to Norwagian Filip Ingebrigtsen of 3:40,23.

In the second semi-final Jakub Holusa of Czech Republic crossed the line with 3:38.05 with Kenya’s Timothy Cheruiyot, the second quickest man of 2017, coming second with 3:38.24 making sure that he gets the automatic qualification to the final.

The big casualty was the fourth Kenyan, Ronald Kwemoi, third fastest on 2017 form, who had not looked comfortable in the opening round where he moved to semi’s with the quickest loser but this time trailed home ninth placed with 3:39.47.

Asbel Kiprop has won four major titles at 1500m but his victory in Beijing two years ago was arguably the most impressive of the lot as he had to extricate himself from a seemingly impossible position on the last lap and overtake nine runners in the last 300 metres to ensure his third world title.

A fourth world title in London would match the haul achieved by world record-holder Hicham El Guerrouj from Morocco between 1997 and 2003. But while El Guerrouj could often rely on a teammate to ensure a fast pace to his liking, Kiprop has three younger teammates – not to mention some very capable challengers from the rest of the world – all looking to knock the reigning champion off his pedestal.

Kiprop has been in indifferent form in the lead-up to the championships. Most recently, he was a well-beaten 11th at the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Monaco in 3:34.91, but experience and a cool head – which Kiprop demonstrated after getting boxed on the last lap in Beijing – are what is important in a championship setting.

A month ago, Ronald Kwemoi would have probably been the consensus pick to claim this title. He won the 1500m at the Kenyan Trials at altitude in 3:30.89 but this was followed by a defeat over 3000m at the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Paris before finishing third in Monaco where he appeared to limp away from the track.

Elijah Manangoi and Timothy Cheruiyot finished first and second respectively in that race in the two fastest times of the year. They were also second and seventh respectively in Beijing and are both expected to feature in the race for the medals again. Manangoi was one of the favourites for the Olympic title last year but a calf injury forced him to withdraw from the semifinal while Cheruiyot has improved substantially since making the final two years ago when he was still a teenager.

Matthew Centrowitz ran a masterfully controlled race to claim the Olympic title last summer and the 27-year-old has never finished lower than eighth in the seven major 1500m finals he has contested indoors and outdoors. Centrowitz’s season hasn’t gone entirely to plan – and he was even on the cusp of withdrawing from the US Championships after sustaining a mid-season adductor injury – but he is returning to form again after finishing second to Robby Andrews in their domestic championships.

The likes of Bahrain’s Sadik Mikhou (3:31.34) and Ethiopia’s Aman Wote (3:31.63) both feature prominently on the world list but neither of them have much in the way of championship form. By contrast, Nick Willis from New Zealand and Abdalaati Iguider from Morocco are midpack on the season’s lists with 3:34.74 and 3:34.99 respectively but they are perhaps the two most experienced athletes on the entry list and are both dependable big-time performers.

European champion Filip Ingebrigtsen from Norway could be a threat in a slow race while 800m specialist Marcin Lewandowski will contest the 1500m for the first time in a global championships. Lewandowski claimed the European indoor title at this distance in Belgrade in March and set a Polish record of 3:34.04 in Monaco last month.

Other long shots include Brits Chris O’Hare and Jake Wightman, who have both taken wins on the IAAF Diamond League circuit this summer, while Spain’s Adel Mechaal has been in good form this season over 1500m and 3000m.

Three time World 1500m champion Asbel Kiprop will be out to redeem his image after his ups and downs this season when he runs at the Monaco Diamond League will be held on Friday (21) in Monaco.

Kiprop will face two more Kenyans who have two World leading times, Timothy Cheruiyot who comes to the race with an insane world lead of 3:30.77 and Ronald Kwemoi of 3:30.89.

Reigning Olympic champion Matt Centrowitz typically doesn’t fare as well in fast races, if he’s on the tail end of that train seeing the American record (3:29.30 by Bernard Lagat) fall is a distinct possibility.

Nick Willis of New Zealand will be coming into this race with a different goal in mind. Though he’s broken 3:30 twice in Monaco and is the reigning Olympic bronze medalist, he currently holds a season best of just 3:36.95, slowest in the field, and Monaco will be just his 3rd race back from injury.

World silver medalist Elijah Manangoi fellow training mate of Cheruiyot will backing on his time he set in Doha Meeting when he finished with a world lead of 3:31.90.

Norway’s 2016 European Champion Filip Ingebrigtsen who has a personal best of 3:34.38 is also lined up for the race with Great Britain’s Chris Ohare and Poland’s Marcin Lewandoski gracing the meeting with 3:34.35 and 3:34.50 respectively.

Great Britain’s jack Wightman was the man of the night at the Oslo Diamond League meeting that was held in Norway.

The 22 year old produced a personal best to win the 1500m with 3:34.17 beating suprising the world silver medalist kenya’s Elijah Manangoi who came second with 3:34.30.

Marcin Lewandowski, the former European champion from Poland, was third with 3:34.60 and Filip Ingebrigsten, the reigning European champion and home crowd favourite from Norway, was fourth with 3:36.74.

Britain’s 2016 Olympic finalist, Charlie Grice came sixth with 3:37.19 with another Kenyan Silas Kiplagat, coming seventh with 3:37.81. Ayanleh Souleiman, the former world indoor champion, was back in tenth place with 3:38.55.

The 2013 Junior Champion gold medalist is the son of former marathoner Geoff Wightman (2:13) and Susan Tooby also a marathoner (2:31).